


First Winter

by Ixchel_Anima



Series: Eternity Among The Stars [1]
Category: SOMA (Video Game)
Genre: Gen, Post-Canon, The Ark, there are references to canon/pre-canon events but nothing too graphic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-29
Updated: 2020-12-29
Packaged: 2021-03-10 21:41:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,712
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28364076
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ixchel_Anima/pseuds/Ixchel_Anima
Summary: As the ARK expands and the seasons change for the first time, some of its inhabitants try to find closure.
Relationships: Catherine Chun & Johan Ross
Series: Eternity Among The Stars [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2116620
Comments: 6
Kudos: 23





	First Winter

It had been a few days since the new arrivals from Tau had been scanned into the ARK - the last batch of genuine, real humans into their little digital afterlife. Catherine had to admit that seeing so few of them stung. She hated to think of what must’ve happened to the rest of them down in the abyss; she couldn’t help but feel responsible for being too late. And in a strange way, she _was._

Tracking Other-Cath’s journey through second hand accounts was a surreal experience, and the moment of truth was finally upon them both. Catherine - real Catherine - was now within a stone’s throw of Phi and the Omega Space Gun. And Catherine - herself as she was on the ARK - would never know if she succeeded.

It was too bad, but expected. Catherine had faith in herself, but the uncertainty was a difficult beast to tame. Still, they’d come this far. Both of them.

Catherine had plenty to be getting on with anyway, without the added stress of past life and a dead planet weighing her down. The ARK wasn’t going to expand itself.

Catherine loathed to admit that she couldn't build an entire world single-handedly, as much as she wanted that to be the case. It was mostly on Imogen's behest that she was recruiting help at all, a chance to get to know the people she'd be spending eternity with, as well as a welcome oppotunity to expand their tiny little world. Still, Catherine felt like she was sending her child to pre-school for the first time. It was hard to share her baby with others. Narrowing her list of potential helpers was the easy part: handily, among the arrivals from Tau was an A.I. Psychologist.

One of the upsides of the ARK’s scale issue was that it meant her target was easy to track down. Despite all her good intentions, it was hard not to put off talking to him for as long as possible, perhaps in the vague hope that he'd do something irredeemably weird, and she could get out of recruiting anyone.

Catherine noted a few things about her quarry in the days before she plucked up the courage to talk to him, none of which were grounds enough to disqualify him, unfortunately. She could count the amount of times she’d seen him with other people on one hand, and she’d seen him actually talk even less. Luckily for her, he seemed to frequent the same few places, often returning to the small stream and the clumps of rocks around the ARK’s entry point.

Today was no exception. He was resting on some of the rocks away from the path, apparently content to just watch the simulated world slip by him; that, or he was avoiding everyone.

“Hey. Dr. Ross, right?”

“That would be me.” His voice was deep and warm, betraying no surprise whatsoever. Catherine could only assume Ross had heard her coming - or worse, noticed her accidental espionage as she fumbled for a way to come speak to him. He stood up to greet her, easily standing a head or so taller than her. "We've technically met before, but it's a pleasure to meet you again, Dr. Chun.

Catherine decides to spare them both the pain of navigating small-talk - her nerves are so heightened she doesn't think she could manage it, even if she wanted to - so she gets straight to the point. “You probably know by now, but I’ve been planning to expand some of the ARK’s environment and functions further.” 

She continues. “I was wondering if you could give me a hand with some coding. We’re starting small and working on some plants to go with the changing seasons, I think it’s about time we had some different weather.”

If Ross minds her forwardness, he doesn’t show it, even as far as her limited understanding of expressions went. “What do you need me to do?” 

“The existing plants are okay, but I think it’s time for some dynamism. I want them to be able to respond to the weather and seasonal patterns, maybe grow and spread by themselves without human interference, that kind of thing. Sound good?”

Ross winced as if someone had just stepped on his foot. Catherine wasn’t quite sure what nerve she’d hit, her simulated heart beating like a jackhammer. Some things really did never change. 

There’s a sharp intake of breath before he speaks. “Are you sure that’s a good idea, to have something... _self proliferating,_ in here with us?”

“Why wouldn’t it be? If it doesn’t work, we can just trash it and start over. I just think some variety will be good for everyone.” Catherine folded her arms, willing herself to stay calm. “We _are_ kind of here forever.”

“To be perfectly frank, I’m not sure if I want to touch the mechanics of this place. It's far too nice to risk drowning everyone in daisies over." Ross pinched the bridge of his nose. "Or _worse._ ”

“Duh, that’s why I want you to do it. You’re obviously the most qualified person here when it comes to messing with complicated A.I.” Catherine tilted her head - she'd understand his reluctance if it was just a want to spend his afterlife doing nothing, but that didn't appear to be the case. “Wasn’t that your job? You practically had the keys to PATHOS-II's whole life support before.”

"... The _WAU_ , yes." Ross just sighed. “I don’t… I have no intention to impede your plans, Dr. Chun.” He seems to notice the corner he’s backed himself into; if he has any further reservations, it’s clear he isn’t willing to share them. “I’ll... I'll see what I can do.”

“Great!” Catherine clapped her hands together. An unenthusiastic helper was a helper nonetheless, so this was a success in her book - she was certain that would change as soon as he got hold of the control panel. "I'll meet you back here tomorrow."

  
  


\-----

  
  


Introducing Ross to the ARK editor was mercifully brief - as she predicted, he could intuit most of the software by himself. He was already familiar with many of the concepts she was used to playing around with, a breath of fresh air compared to the other residents she'd tried to teach the delicate art of world building to. Catherine had sketched out the bones of her season plans well before her arrival on the ARK, giving Ross ample leeway to plot how the plantlife should respond to the changes she had scheduled.

Like all aspects of the ARK, the workspace was yet another step-up from PATHOS-II, the pair able to work where-ever they pleased in the simulated environment. For now, they stayed next to the stream, drinking in the faint sound of the wind in the trees, the gentle bubbling and trickling of water.

Ross wasn't a talkative creature, which is a relief for Catherine at first, but that quickly devolved into an intense worry the longer it continued. It was a problem she knew well, unable to infer how well their interactions were going without the direct feedback that no - he didn't actively and intensely despise her for roping him into this, she was just fine and dandy.

Catherine had been genuinely shocked to find out how little that was actually the case, before, but it was a habit not easily broken. People, despite everything, liked her. At least now she had the rest of eternity to learn that.

So, Catherine takes another leaf from Imogen’s book, and just asks:

“Are you okay working with me? You haven’t said much.”

“...I’m fine?” Ross looked genuinely baffled by the question, turning away from where he was sat on the riverside. “I wasn’t aware you wanted me to.”

“Oh.” Catherine feels stupid for asking, but the relief far outweighs the few seconds she spends feeling dumb, sputtering out a laugh to help break the weird tension she'd created. “Sorry. I don’t mind, just wondering. You just look like you’d rather be literally anywhere else.”

“It’s nothing to do with you or the ARK, if that’s what you’ve been worrying about.”

Catherine stands, feeling the pull of her simulated muscles as she stretches. “Can I ask what it is?” 

Ross exhales. If he didn't want to be literally anywhere else before, he certainly looked like he did now. “I was going to shut the WAU down, sometime after I was scanned.” He downs the device he was using and moves his hands in a vague, illustrative (and ultimately unhelpful) motion. “It's... It was out of my control, put bluntly. I’m not sure what you would’ve seen up in Theta, honestly, but I’m sure you noticed it behaving strangely. It had got to the point where termination was the only reasonable option.”

“Damn right.” Catherine snorted. “We kept getting structure gel leakages, robots acting weird. Pilot Seats stealing scans off of people, all that kind of stuff.”

The information makes Ross grimace, though to his credit he does continue. “Mhm. I was planning on going to Omicron for help with you - the Other You, I mean - and the ARK team, before returning to Alpha to shut it down for good. I suppose that’s what I still did, _am_ _doing_ , but...” He deflates, resting his cheek into his hand. “It’s just painful not to know.”

“Unfinished business? Tell me about it.” Catherine takes a seat next to him on the bank, dangling her feet into the water. “I have no idea if Earth-Cath is going to be able to fire us up there or not. It’s driving me crazy.”

“Well, if it is any comfort you were about to head to Phi. I don’t see any reason why you wouldn’t be able to complete the launch.” Ross’ eyes travel a slow meander from her, then back to the water. “The local wildlife notwithstanding.”

“What, like jellyfish?”

“The WAU infected the local sea life. It’s the main reason we were unable to evacuate the first time.” Ross says, matter of fact, as if he didn’t just deliver some deeply troubling information. “I was surprised your team managed to reach Tau in one piece, honestly.” 

Though Catherine waits for further explanation none is offered; she can fill in many of the blanks herself, however, and it doesn’t paint a pleasant picture. He seems to realize the dark turn the conversation has veered into, quickly filling the silence before it can linger further.

“It’s odd, you know.”

“The fish?”

“No. The disconnect between you and the version of you I last saw. It’s very subtle, but you feel like entirely different people.” Ross laughs, a short, quiet huff. “Truly, truly bizarre.”

“‘Bizarre’? Gee, thanks, I get that a lot. I hope that’s not a bad thing.” Catherine takes some delight at the startled expression that crosses Ross’ face, amused that he thinks he’s offended her. “We _are_ different, though. You of all people should know that.”

“I do, I do. But there’s no precedent to meeting someone’s copy, is there?”

Catherine just laughs, shaking her head. “I could say the same for you. I don't have the real Ross to compare you to though, so I’ll let you off the hook this time.”

Ross just snorts. “You have my deepest gratitude.”

A comfortable silence passes between them, the kind that feels no particular need to be filled or broken - so neither do, both content to return to what they’d been doing before.

\-----  
  
  


It’s true - there really is no precedent for meeting someone’s copy. Meeting her own double isn't the surreal horror Catherine expected it might be, and when she shows up out of the blue, bearing the news that their project had finally come to fruition, how could it be weird, when Other-Cath delivers the best news of their life?

It wasn't the version of her she'd expected to show up, for sure. It had always been a possibility, albeit a slim one, but they were technically from the same, first scan, her double being treated to an extended stay in a robot body and an Omnitool after the WAU revived her. Though they shared most memories, so long as they were in different bodies they were different people, as far as she was concerned. As far as _both of them_ were concerned.

It was a blessing in disguise, really. She really needed the extra hand - and who better to help her than herself? It was the ultimate convenience: she could rely on herself to have the same goals, and not have to jump through a series of strange social hoops in order to get there. It was a wonder she hadn’t made her own clone ARK army yet.

What is surprising though, is the living legacy scan that comes in with her, none other than Simon Jarrett, direct from 2015. He seems nice, and she definitely gets why the Other Cath has grown fond of him, even outside the realms of shared traumatic experience. Getting the details from herself is easy; with Simon, though, she almost wishes that she didn't ask. Things really did go to hell.

Other Cath seems to have taken it upon herself to acclimatize the time traveller to the rest of the PATHOS-II crew for the time being, leaving her with Ross again to figure out ARK things. Their work is very much in tandem, for now, but she doesn’t mind it as much as she thought she would.

He’s quiet, still - they both are - but when they do talk Ross seems genuinely fascinated by the simulation's inner workings and what Catherine has to say about them. It's refreshing, to not have to filter everything through the lens of metaphor in order to explain how the underlying mechanics worked, or any of the other, weird concepts they had to sit with in their digital reality.

When Ross actually says something, it’s said so suddenly that she assumes at first that he was just talking to himself. It wasn’t like he hadn’t before; working alone for most of your life probably did that.

“I think Simons scared of me.” 

Catherine glances up. She considers lying, but she knows its unlikely Ross will buy it. She sighs, continuing to chip away at the ever-growing mountain of weather and seasonal algorithms she’d found herself buried in lately while she talks.

“Yeah, he is.” 

Catherine was surprised that Ross was the type to take it so personally. He was better off not knowing, really - she’d harvested all the details from Other Cath and Simon quite early into their stay, attempted murder included on the lengthy list of things that had gone to shit on Earth during their absence. If anything, it made her all the more grateful that they’d escaped it all, apparently just in the knick of time.

“Something to do with your Earth self, you met down there briefly. It’s… Really not my place to say.” She let out a short, nervous laugh. Catherine couldn’t blame Simon for his behaviour, really, and it’s not a conversation she is keen to have, especially with someone she knew so little. It was very much Simon’s bridge to cross. “Just go talk to him. He isn’t _that_ unreasonable a guy, most of the time.”

Ross’ brow pulls into a tight knot, and Catherine suspects that he may have put some of the pieces together already. He nods, and promptly changes the subject. “It’s fascinating that he’s a functional consciousness at all, really. I wouldn’t have expected a flat scan to behave this way. The WAU must’ve unfolded it, somehow, when it revived him.” He hums. “It did a worryingly good job.”

“Maybe don’t start with that.”

“It’s not that I don’t want to. I’m not sure how, yet." Ross sighs and the tension in his face diffuses. He mostly just looks embarrassed at himself. "I was just wondering if you could offer any insight.” 

"Well, you couldn't have asked a worse person." Catherine feels amusement tug at her face. “Aren’t you meant to be a psychologist?”

“A.I. Psychologist.” Ross seems to notice the trap he’s fallen into, expression shifting to resignation as soon as the words leave his mouth. Catherine’s face split into a grin. 

“And Simon Jarrett is a legacy scan. Easy, you’re our resident expert on him, so get to it.”

Ross didn’t have a reply to that, but he does smile to himself, shaking his head as he goes back to designing germination patterns.  
  


\-----  
  


The work of several months finally culminates in the ARK’s first change in seasons, and Catherine couldn’t be happier.

“Now this is more like it!” Strasky is as a reliable hype man as ever, and Catherine never quite stops being grateful for it.

Snow was his idea, in fairness, insisting on it as soon as he’d caught wind of her plans. He was already making true on his promise to ‘test the physics’ for her, balling it up into a tight clump with his bare hands. Seconds later, Catherine hears Raleigh shriek somewhere off to the side. The physics are working just as expected, apparently.

“Wow, it actually feels... cold.” Imogen says from her side, awed, one hand covered in rapidly melting frost, the other slung around Catherine’s shoulders.

“Of course it is, it’s _snow_.” Catherine’s heart feels light and warm despite the chill in the air, and she lets out a laugh at the face Imogen pulls at her, before slinking off to attack Golaski.

In lieu of Imogen’s company, Catherine finds herself gravitating towards Ross, who is too preoccupied with his neurotic, last minute code checks to notice her approach.

“Winter seems to be going down well.” Catherine sidled next to him. “No leaves: check.” 

“Everything’s dead: check.” Ross smirks, finally stuffing the device into his pocket. “At least, everything that _should be_ is. I guess we’ll have to wait until Spring to see if we’ll drown in a sea of daffodils or not, after all.”

“Good grief, lighten up.” Catherine holds out her palm to catch some of the falling snowflakes, a little smile touching her face as it melts in her hand. “We did something good, be happy.”

“I am happy.” Ross insists, and Catherine takes his word for it. She isn’t sure if it's just her own mood affecting her how she sees things, but she swears there's an ease somewhere that she hadn’t noticed in any of their previous conversations.

“Simon told me he shut the WAU down.”

It’s so non-sequitur from the previous thread of conversation that Catherine can’t help scrunching her face up in confusion. The cogs whir, before slotting into place.

“Oh! You spoke to Simon?” 

“Mhm. Kind of. He spoke to me. Still wary, I think, but that can’t be helped.” Ross casts a glance over to the man in question, quickly averting his eyes as if worried he’ll be caught. Simon is with the Other Catherine currently, somewhere in the mass of PATHOS-II crew members that had come out to watch the season change. It would be a smoother transition in future, but Catherine can't resist a dramatic reveal after all her hard work.

“Just… I’m happy knowing there’s still some life on Earth still, even if it’s not us. I think I can live with that.” There’s a ghost of a smile on his face as Ross talks. Its clear a colossal weight has been taken off his shoulders. “Maybe now the WAU is gone for good, what's left can just… Get on with it.”

“I guess it’s not technically human extinction anyway, when we’re floating around in the stars for eternity.”

“Oh, right. I never did congratulate you for getting us into space, Catherine. You must be relieved.”

“You _bet_. I mean, it wasn’t technically me.” She looks out to Other Cath and Simon, the former hovering around like a concerned parent as Simon attempted to roll up a large snowball. Perhaps the snow clumping physics still needed some work. “All I did was scan myself. The legwork was all the other two Catherines.”

“Scan yourself, yes. And then code an accurate seasonal and weather program, implement a realistic environment, including senses and temperature, etcetera, etcetera.” Ross counts the list off on his fingers blithely, even as Catherine rolls her eyes at him. “You’re right. That’s barely anything.”

“Shh. You know what I mean.”

“It wouldn’t kill you to be happy either, you know. You’ve achieved a lot.” Ross chuckles, watching some of the other Tau crew members mess around some distance away, kicking the snow around like school children. Catherine hadn’t realized how much she’d missed this.

“You’ll have to excuse me. I think Glass is drawing a cock and balls in your snow.”

“Huh. Glad the physics are working as intended.” Catherine was wondering how long it would take for someone to do that. She snickers, and Ross gives her a little wave as he disappears to help Glasser with his masterpiece - or destroy it, she isn’t sure. “See you around.”

Catherine inhales, the cold air cool and clean just as it used to be, down on Earth, and knows that she is happy. And she dares to hope that maybe everyone else could be too.

She watches Simon - how he now speaks to Imogen or Raleigh without flinching, how fear and pity no longer permeate into his features when he sees Azzaro, or Semken or Strasky, or any of the other dozen or so colleagues he had to listen to die while he was down there. He’s not completely over the weirdness of two Catherines, but when she walks over to join the pair Simon greets her as warmly as he would anyone else. 

“How did you manage to make the snowman so lumpy?”

“Hey!” Simon retorts, scandalized, balling up another clump of snow into the shape of a hat. “I’m gonna pretend I didn’t hear that.”

Maybe they could all stop thinking about the ruined Earth, ruined lives and ruined people they’d left behind, little by little. And maybe things could finally begin to get better again, and the memories wouldn’t sting as much as they used to.

The ARK’s first Winter is a success, and Catherine can’t wait to see what else the future has in store for them all.

**Author's Note:**

> I call this one "I started writing a big multi chapter SOMA fic, got distracted by writing a long SOMA one-shot, and then got distracted by writing this fic here." Sorry!
> 
> The other fics I'm writing are a bit grim tonally, so one has been good for the soul. Just some scientists being bros - I need me more ARK fics in my life, y'all. 
> 
> Hope you enjoyed, and thanks for reading!


End file.
